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Leader of the Commons Andrew Lansley was forced to defend the Government's stance on childcare after Nick Clegg blocked Conservative plans to review the ratio of nursery staff to children.

Labour MP Andy Sawford told Mr Lansley it was "shocking" there had not been a statement to the House of Commons on the issue.

Nick Clegg said there was "no real evidence" that the Conservative plans would reduce childcare costs. Credit: ITV News

"If you will not arrange a statement, can you at least tell us what the current policy is? The Deputy Prime Minister said yesterday it's been dropped - you told us this morning it's being reviewed", he continued. "What is the policy? It's a shambles".

Mr Lansley replied: "Our policy is to ensure the quality of childcare increases and the affordability for parents is improved.

"That is what we are setting out to do, it's what we will do. As soon as policies have been agreed, there will be an opportunity for that to be brought to the House for announcement".

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Nick Clegg said it was "flatly wrong" to accuse him of breaking any agreement with other ministers over changes to the childcare system.

Speaking on LBC radio, Mr Clegg said he did not agree to the Conservative-led plans, adding, "What we agreed at the time was that we would consult on this proposal and not make our minds up finally until we had heard from people".

The Deputy Prime Minister said replies to the consultation from nurseries, parents' groups and other experts overwhelmingly suggested it was a bad idea.

He went on: "I know everyone gets sort of hot under the collar in the Westminster village, but I have a very straightforward view - if you have an idea that is controversial, you ask people what they think.

"When you have asked them what they think, listen to what they say, listen to what parents say, look at the evidence and then make up your mind".

This is something that really divided the coalition. The Conservatives really wanted to reduce the cost of childcare by having better trained carers who could then look after more children each. But the Liberal Democrats never liked this idea.

It did go to consultation. Now the Liberal Democrats said that found there would probably be no reduction in the cost of childcare and the safety and effectiveness of the childcare would be undermined.

This is not something that will have a great effect at the top of the coalition. The Prime Minister said he was willing to compromise and tonight a Number 10 source said they were still looking at other ideas to bring down the cost of childcare. But some Lib Dems will be pleased with this victory.

Today, Nick Clegg wrote to Tory Education Minister Liz Truss to make clear her plans did not have his support, effectively meaning they were scrapped:

The proposals to increase ratios were put out to consultation and were roundly criticised by parents, providers and experts alike. Most importantly, there is no real evidence that increasing ratios will reduce the cost of childcare for families.

The argument that this will help families with their weekly childcare bill simply does not stack up. I cannot ask parents to accept such a controversial change with no real guarantee it will save them money - in fact it could cost them more.